Philadelphia Eagles Blog - Go Iggles

October 22, 2008

Cool piece in this morning's Inquirer about Eagles' rookie wideout DeSean Jackson and his erstwhile talent for baseball. As you might imagine, DeSean was "good at sports" as a kid, and had something of an aptitude for more than just football.

Things I learned from said article included: (1) DeSean was a speedy leadoff guy (Um, yeah, that makes sense), (2) DeSean's dad lived in the same house as Roberto Clemente growing up (Huh?), (3) both the Phils and Rays took a look at him as a high schooler (How relevant!), and (4) the DeSean Jackson Is Cocky (tm) meme is alive and well.

Certainly the CamelCased One doesn't lack for confidence:

"I was definitely pretty good," Jackson said. "I had a lot of speed. I was a leadoff hitter, and I'd get on and steal second base. Sometimes, I'd be risky and steal third. Sometimes, I'd even try to steal home. I led my league in steals and batted like .400.

"I thought about [baseball], and I didn't like the idea of going on long bus trips and playing in the middle of nowhere when it was hot. I know it takes a long time to get to the big leagues, and I couldn't see myself sitting in a hotel room watching football, because it's something I love."

Mercifully, DeSean hasn't forgotten his Nuke LaLoosh media training, and quickly followed up with a salvo of rookie-appropriate cliches:

"I might pull my Deion out after this football thing is over," Jackson said in reference to former two-sport star Deion Sanders. "It seems like it would be tough to do both. I'm just playing football and that's tough, so I can only imagine what it's like to do both."

Comments

Cool piece in this morning's Inquirer about Eagles' rookie wideout DeSean Jackson and his erstwhile talent for baseball. As you might imagine, DeSean was "good at sports" as a kid, and had something of an aptitude for more than just football.

Things I learned from said article included: (1) DeSean was a speedy leadoff guy (Um, yeah, that makes sense), (2) DeSean's dad lived in the same house as Roberto Clemente growing up (Huh?), (3) both the Phils and Rays took a look at him as a high schooler (How relevant!), and (4) the DeSean Jackson Is Cocky (tm) meme is alive and well.

Certainly the CamelCased One doesn't lack for confidence:

"I was definitely pretty good," Jackson said. "I had a lot of speed. I was a leadoff hitter, and I'd get on and steal second base. Sometimes, I'd be risky and steal third. Sometimes, I'd even try to steal home. I led my league in steals and batted like .400.

"I thought about [baseball], and I didn't like the idea of going on long bus trips and playing in the middle of nowhere when it was hot. I know it takes a long time to get to the big leagues, and I couldn't see myself sitting in a hotel room watching football, because it's something I love."

Mercifully, DeSean hasn't forgotten his Nuke LaLoosh media training, and quickly followed up with a salvo of rookie-appropriate cliches:

"I might pull my Deion out after this football thing is over," Jackson said in reference to former two-sport star Deion Sanders. "It seems like it would be tough to do both. I'm just playing football and that's tough, so I can only imagine what it's like to do both."